FRISCO, Texas — “ He is the best I have been around, “ free safety Darian Thompson remarked to me on Kris Richard in preparation for the Miami Dolphins. “ Every single day-no lack in intensity. You talk about heart condition that is one thing this defense is based off of. There is no better example of that in this building than coach Richard.”
He is certainly a name that brings a smile to the face of any player on the Cowboys’ last line of defense. The tenacity and enthusiasm Richard shows in coaching, his players match on the field. His relentless spirit and hands-on coaching technique have made a sizeable impact with Dallas’ defensive backs.
Richard was hired by the Cowboys at the outset of the 2018 season to become the team’s defensive backs coach and passing game coordinator. He was the former Seattle Seahawks defensive backs coach (2012-2014) and defensive coordinator (2015-2017), before joining Rod Marinelli in Dallas.
One of the first moves he made with the silver and blue was switching Byron Jones from safety to cornerback. The former 2015 first-round pick struggled in 2017 at free safety with 82 combined tackles (57 solo), five pass deflections, an interception, and a touchdown in 16 games. Pro Football Focus gave him a grade of 76.8, ranked 54th among safeties. He was not meeting his draft expectation or the team’s standard. Richard’s choice to switch Jones revitalized his career and the rest is history, as they say.
Jones was elected to his first Pro Bowl concluding the 2018 season and led the Cowboys’ defense with 15 pass breakups. He allowed a catch on only 53% of targets against him in 2018 and allowed a QB rating of only 85.5 on passes against him. All a testament to Richard, and Jones was not the only player with resurgence when he came on board.
Xavier Woods led the team with two interceptions in 2018 tying with Leighton Vander Esch, and he forced an incompletion on 80% of his red zone targets. He had career-highs in pass deflections (9), combined tackles (56), and solo (39).
The defense improved as a whole in 2018, finishing sixth in points-per-game (20.3), seventh in total defense (329.3 yards-per-game), and sixth in big plays (20-plus yards) allowed with 52.
Many times when a great play is made on the gridiron, the player gets the credit. That is only a portion of the truth and one side to the coin. The coach goes unnoticed on the sideline but the positive result of the play is a direct reflection and is fruition of the time, effort, and dedication the positional coach has poured into said player everyday in drills. That is certainly the case for Richard.
I spoke with head coach Jason Garrett on Richard’s effectiveness and he emphatically responded, “ He has had a really positive impact on our team since he got here; very good coaching individual players, coaching their technique, and very good in coaching the scheme and putting it all together. He is very good at coaching guys motivationally and inspirationally to be their best. He instills confidence in guys and gives them tools to play at their highest level. We have a number of examples of guys who have played their best football underneath him. He and Rod work very well together, they are cut from the same cloth. They have the same DNA about what they think is important in football and that is what we try to emphasize in our whole team. Certainly we want to do that on the defensive side of the ball and Kris has had a big impact on that.”
He does not simply write plays on a board in the meeting room and tell players what to do; he walks with them through the process everyday on the practice field. He displays how to provide tight coverage on routes and the right tracking and footwork to get hands on the ball in flight intended for receivers.
Many players have praised his coaching style and I discussed it with Richard following Thursday’s practice,” It is having that mentality and being hands-on. Not only being able to illustrate but to demonstrate, and I think guys get a feel for that really quickly because it is not just ‘chalkboard talk.’ It will not just be X’s and O’s and coach speak and things of that nature, but we are actually going to go out there physically and get things done. The really cool part is that when things are actually happening in the game that we are working on and preparing for, it builds confidence and trust. “
It is obvious on game days that the players of Richard’s secondary have bought in; their hearts are reflected on the field for 60 minutes.
